Networks & Emancipatory Uses of the Media

Here are the new readings:
Hans Magnus Enzensberger's "Constituents of a Theory of the Media" is one of the fundamental articles envisioning a new use for media technologies by political movements during the late '60s and '70s, emancipatory tools for political mobilization and social change. Use Marco Tullio Giordana's I Cento Passi and the story of Peppino Impastato and Radio AUT as a way to contextualize and visualize the historical moment in which Enzensberger is writing.

Something to think about in relation to the film is how Peppino Impastato's attempts at carving out a space for communication and direct political action (a public sphere within the confines of a small community dominated by organized crime) is dramatized in the film --from traditional political rallies to 'free radio', after navigating dadaist street theater, pamphleteering, film screenings and be-ins. Think specifically of the characteristics of RadioAut in relation to Enzensberger's article --programming, control, voice, 'mission', etc. Does the 'network' and the resultant digital media culture of today finally deliver on these expectations?

Enzensberger - Constituents of a Theory of the Media

Extra Readings on Old vs. New Media Conceptions:

Michael Crichton - Mediasaurus (1993)

Jack Schaefer - Reflections on Mediasaurus

Comcast: We Own Everything...No, Really, We Do.

Four Infographics Reveal Why the Comcast Merger Is Bad for You

The Comcast-Time Warner Deal, by the Numbers

Netflix To Pay Comcast to Not Ruin Your Evenings

Why YouTube buffers: The secret deals that make—and break—online video

Comcast claims competition from Google Fiber, Netflix & Hulu are reasons to approve merger

Netflix Quality Sucks Because ISPs Won't Bother Fixing It

The Real Problem with the Comcast Merger

Pop Music Short Paper

Short Paper Assignment #1 here.

New Media: The Internet As Technology

Jeremy G. Butler, "The Internet and the World Wide Web"
P. David Marshall, "The Internet: The Multi-Media Accessible Universe and the User"
Bolter & Grusin, "The World Wide Web" (from Remediation)

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers: Something Wild

This is the Lindy Hop, the Jitterbug, the Suzie-Q. The clip is an excerpt from H.C. Potter's Helzapoppin' (1941). The Lindy Hoppers doing "The Big Apple" in 1939 are here. Enjoy.
In this clip the dancing starts at the 2:15 mark.



from Jonathan Demme's Something Wild; The Feelies play David Bowies's "Fame" and Jeff Daniels dances with his eye on the 'Other' for cues.

R'n'B is on the Indies

Big Joe Turner - Shake, Rattle and Roll
Big Mama Thornton - Hound Dog
Rufus Thomas - Bear Cat
Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup - That's All Right
Jackie Brenston & His Delta Kings (aka Ike Turner) - Rocket 88
Junior Parker - Mystery Train
Little Walter - Dead Presidents

Post-War Hillbillies: Western Swing, Honky Tonk and Bluegrass

Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys - Take Me Back To Tulsa

Hank Williams - Hey Goodlookin' + Lovesick Blues

Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys - Muleskinner Blues + Blue Moon Of Kentucky

New New Media: Gaming

Pac-Man Skull

These are two articles on videogames and their history. Use them in conjunction with the screening of Game On: The Unauthorized History of Video Games.

Bolter & Grusin, "Computer Games" (from Remediation)
P. David Marshall, "Playing Game Cultures: Electronic Games"

Super Mario @ 25

The Sound Begins: Popular Music Readings II

in Garofalo:

-Chapter 2: Blues and Country Music: Mass Media and the Construction of Race
-Chapter 3: “Good Rockin’ Tonight”: The Rise of Rhythm and Blues

Charlie Gillet from The Sound of the City, "The Sound Begins"
Nelson George from The Death of Rhythm and Blues, "Dark Voices in the Night"

Pre-War Specialties

Doc Boggs - Sugar Baby

Jimmie Rodgers - Mule Skinner Blues

The Carter Family - Wildwood Flower

Jimmie Rodgers & The Carter Family - Blue Yodel

Skip James - Devil Got My Woman

Robert Johnson - Love in Vain

Blind Willie Johnson, "Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground"
"The most transcendent piece in all American music" (Ry Cooder)

Art & Folk

Beethoven - Symphony N.9 d-moll Op. 125 (extract)

Text by Schiller here.

Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 2 "Moonlight"

Chopin - Nocturne b-moll Op. 9 No. 1

Schumann - Dichterliebe, Opus 48, "A Poet's Love"

Text by Heine here.

Schumann - Liderkreis, Op. 39, "Intermezzo"

Text by Eichendorff here.

Schubert - An Silvia (D891 1826)

Text by Shakespeare here.

The virtuoso instrumentalist and composer as superstar: Franz Liszt.

Good interview on WNYC's Soundcheck with Tim Blanning author of The Triumph of Music, a 'social history' of musicians in the west and how they went from being considered merely servants to being 'stars'. This is an excellent example of metacontextual musical knowledge. Required listening.

Download entire interview mp3 here. Stream interview.

from North Vietnam: A Brao Song

from the Mississippi Delta: Blind Willie Johnson - Dark Was The Night

from the Mississippi Delta: Alan Lomax Collection - Arwhoolie (Cornfield Holler)

from Ireland: The Dubliners - Home Boys Home

from Democratic Republic of Congo: Konono No. 1 - Ditshe Tshiekutala

from India: Ravi Shankar - Dhun

But this is not 'folk music' as we defined it, rather it is an example of the 'high' in a different cultural and social context.

What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream?: Media, Political Economy and Communication (UPDATED)

Source: Frugal dad (Find full image size infographic here)

An up-to-date infographic on media consolidation. Use this to think through the issues of consumer sovereignty, the illusion of the market as democratic regulator, the media's role in democracy and its social function, etc. as well as the issues raised by Herman and Curran and our discussions in class.

Also, what makes mainstream media mainstream? How does this prevent the media from fulfilling the social roles that liberal democratic theory assigns to it?

Noam Chomsky, What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream
James Curran, Mass Media and Democracy Revisited
Eric Alterman, What Liberal Media?
Ed Herman, Media in the US Political Economy

David Croteau & William Hoynes, "The New Media Giants: Changing Industry Structure"

Media, Culture and Society: Chapter 1 + Chapter 2

Updated Ownership Chart from WSJ in July 2014

TV: The Idiot Box, the Electronic Babysitter, the Toaster with Pictures...

Raymond Williams, "The Technology and the Society"
originally in Williams, Television: Technology and Cultural Form

Michele Hilmes, "Cable, Satellite and Digital Technologies"
P. David Marshall, "Rejuvenation: Television"

Pop Music: Music Becomes A Thing

Readings Week 1&2:

in Garofalo, Rockin' Out:
-Introduction + Chapter 1: Tin Pan Alley

in Cambridge Companion:
-Introduction + Chronology
-Theberge, "'Plugged In': Technology & Popular Music"
-Frith, "The Popular Music Industry"
-Frith, "Pop Music"

from Durham & Kellner (eds), Media & Cultural Studies: Keyworks
-Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"

from Frith & Goodwin (eds), On Record
-Adorno, "On Popular Music"
nb. You can find this essay together with "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception" co-written with Max Horkheimer --an essay which if you have not read should definitely do so-- here.

from Even Eisenberg, The Recording Angel: Music Records and Culture from Aristotle to Zappa
-Eisenberg, Chapter 2: Music Becomes a Thing

Grimes, "Genesis" Live Session for KEXP

'New' Media: What Is It?

These are the readings for the first weeks of class and discussion. Remember that we are still in the process of investigating the concept of 'new' media and trying to go beyond a mere chronology of new technologies in favor of a more nuanced and specific understanding of the truly 'new' aspects of digital converged media and the social potential/consequences. We're doing this from a politically progressive perspective --the 'what's new for society' question.

The articles here will introduce you to some of the more practical transformations the appearance of digital technologies have produced in 'old' (traditional) media like film and television. Please note that as we discussed in class, even in this case, the transformations are both smaller and larger than those one could imagine: on the one hand, the film and televisual experience is for the most part unchanged; on the other, however, the film medium and the specificity of the photo/cinematographic image has been dramatically transformed as it loses its indexicality and the medium goes from a synthetic to an analytic one while television's horizon ceases to be that of a regulated/national context to an open/transnational one disarticulated from 'the (idiot?) box' in your living room.

David Croteau & William Hoynes, "The New Media Giants: Changing Industry Structure"

Sean Cubitt, "Digital Filming and Special Effects"
P. David Marshall, "Rejuvenation: Film in the Digital World"
Anne Friedberg, "CD and DVD"
Janet Wasko, "The Future of Film Distribution and Exhibition"

Michele Hilmes, "Cable, Satellite and Digital Technologies"
P. David Marshall, "Rejuvenation: Television"